Monday, March 27, 2006

[This book appears to be fairly straight-shooting, certainly will arouse some discussion and controversy and looks to make a hardhitting critique of the post-conciliar era. Certainly not for the faint of heart. However, what seems interesting in particular is Fr. Barthe's focus on the need for the Tridentine and Reform-of-the-Reform movement to work together.]

Is this the Pope who will “transition” the Church fully back to tradition?

Why the signs are hopeful, and how Benedict will need the cooperation of all Catholics of good will.

Forty-one years after Vatican II, there is much disagreement about what can be done to reverse all the collateral damage. This important new book by Rev. Claude Barthe was first published in France shortly before the election of Benedict XVI, and now contains a major new section on how the German Pope with his vast experience and learning can “transition” the Church to a period of restoration and genuine renewal “beyond Vatican II.”

The secret to the book’s power? Fr. Barthe, who possesses a Vatican-issued celebret enabling him to use the old Latin liturgy exclusively, analyzes the Council and the causes of its undoing by using the same methods as Pope Benedict.

In so doing, he shows that there are encouraging signs that the Church is heading for a gradual “disengagement” from what he sees as an unbalanced attachment to one particular Council. In the process, Benedict, following his colleague and friend, John Paul II, will begin to restore:

- reverence to the liturgy - sanity to doctrine - trust among the beleaguered faithful.

Some highlights of Fr. Barthe’s inspired—and inspiring—book:

The new generation of orthodox priests, even bishops: poised to lead a real renewal?

Making the exit from a false “spirit of Vatican II” ideology: what must be done in areas of doctrine, liturgy, discipline, and the formation of priests.

Growing evidence that Pope Benedict is moving away from the Conciliar “spirit”—and sees the liturgical issue as crucial to restoring orthodoxy and tradition.

The bad news: how, by nearly every measure—baptisms, conversions, vocations, and more—the post-Vatican II “renewal” has in fact been a collapse.

The “very particular political genius” that actually enables Benedict XVI to catalyze and guide Catholic expectations and reflexes more convincingly than John Paul II.

Benedict’s broad and solid base among the faithful, the clergy, ecclesial organizations, and the episcopate—and why it is likely to grow.

Why alliances must be forged between Latin Mass traditionalists and those committed to the new.

How a select few reforms to the new Mass would go a long way to mitigating its harmful excesses.

The case for the preservation and increase of parishes where the traditional Mass is offered—and for a Latin Mass bishop who answers directly to the Holy Father.“Priestless parishes” never happen in Latin Mass communities.

How, atypically in Church history, Vatican II was a pastoral council without a dogmatic mandate. How, as a “non-council patterned on a council,” Vatican II opened the way to confusion and dissent.

How the corruption of the liturgy became the vehicle for communicating the democratic “spirit of the Council”.

The few Vatican II texts that can be considered doctrinally definitive—and how they reveal points of view that were frankly new.

How Vatican II often unintentionally left many teachings subject to debate How, by trying to seem “relevant,” the Church lost her influence.

How it has become all but impossible today for heretics to be excluded from the Church (but still is possible if you say the old Latin Mass is better than the New).

Why Catholic liberals have abandoned their traditional social emphasis to advance “democracy in the Church”.

The need for a “re-presentation” of the Second Vatican Council in continuity with Tradition.

Why today’s orthodox young priests are a “generation without fathers”—often at odds with their liberal superiors, and lacking the guidance and ecclesial protection of past generations of young priests.

What to do about the liturgy: Liberate the Old Mass? Reform the New? Why both are necessary—and probable this year under Benedict, who has said so.

APPENDICES: Benedict XVI’s address about Vatican II to the Roman Curia * Cardinal Ratzinger’s 1988 “Remarks to the Bishops of Chile” summarizing in remarkably blunt terms “mistakes” made by Church leaders after the Council which prompted some traditionalists to rebel.